You can have your Kindle books read out loud on your computer, so you can listen while you cook or tidy up, or when your eyes need a rest. To do this, you add TTSReader to your browser and open your book on Amazon’s Kindle website. This guide takes you through it from the start. You don’t need any experience with browser extensions.
What you need
- A computer with the Chrome or Edge browser.
- An Amazon account with a Kindle book.
- A Google or Apple account, to sign in to TTSReader.
Set up TTSReader
Step 1: Install the TTSReader extension
An extension is a small program you add to your browser. Open the TTSReader page in the Chrome Web Store and click Add to Chrome. When your browser asks you to confirm, click Add extension. In Edge, the page first asks you to allow extensions from other stores.
Step 2: Sign in and go through the onboarding
After you install it, TTSReader opens a welcome page. Click Continue with Google or Continue with Apple to sign in, then click Get Started. A short tour of six screens follows. Click Next to move through it. Two things in it matter most:
Pin the extension. This keeps TTSReader’s button next to your browser’s address bar, where you’ll use it every time. The tour shows you how, and it goes on once you’ve done it. Click the puzzle-piece icon next to the address bar, then click the pin next to TTSReader. A small red speaker icon now sits next to the address bar:
Choose a voice you like. The tour shows you where the voices are. You can change the voice at any time, as Step 8 explains.
When the tour ends, go on to Step 3.
Step 3: Open a Wikipedia article to test it
Before you open your book, test TTSReader on an ordinary web page. Open the Wikipedia article about the Beatles.
Step 4: Start TTSReader on the page
TTSReader is careful with your privacy. It adds nothing to the websites you visit, and it doesn’t read a website unless you ask it to. So each time you want a website read to you, you do two things: open the website, then click TTSReader’s button, the small red speaker icon next to the address bar in Chrome or Edge. This example shows a different article:
The TTSReader player, a black bar of buttons, appears on the page. Click the big round Play button in the middle to hear the article, and click it again to pause. If you heard the article, everything works.
Listen to your Kindle book
Step 5: Open your Kindle book
Go to read.amazon.com. This is Kindle Cloud Reader, Amazon’s website for reading Kindle books. Sign in with your Amazon account if it asks you to, then click the book you want to hear.
Step 6: Start TTSReader on the book
Click TTSReader’s button next to the address bar, as you did on Wikipedia. The player appears over your book.
Step 7: Click Play
Click the big round Play button in the middle of the player. That’s all there is to it. You’ll hear TTSReader reading the page on your screen, and you’ll see the sentence it’s reading marked on the page.
Step 8: Choose a voice and a speed
This step is optional. Click the settings button at the right end of the player, the one with three sliders, to open TTSReader’s side panel, which appears beside the page.
TTSReader has hundreds of leading AI voices. In the side panel, choose a language, click the small play button next to a voice to hear it, and click the voice you like best. Use the Speed slider to set the reading speed. Voices marked PREMIUM are AI voices.
Step 9: Sit back and listen
TTSReader reads through your book, marks the sentence it’s reading, and turns the pages for you. It keeps going until you pause it or the book ends.
Pricing
TTSReader is free to install and try. There are two kinds of voices, and both read Kindle books:
- Device voices are the voices that come with your browser and computer. They’re free, with no limit.
- Premium AI voices are the natural-sounding voices. You pay for them by the character, meaning each letter, space or punctuation mark that’s read. You can try them with 5,000 free characters, about five minutes of listening. After that, you can switch to a device voice, or get a Premium plan. It costs $10.99 a month, or $99 a year ($8.25 a month), and includes 1 million characters a month, about 18 hours of listening. It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
As far as we know, this is the best plan of its kind in the world. You can see every option on the Plans & Pricing page.
What else the extension reads
The same extension reads much more than Kindle books:
- Any web page, such as a news story, an article or a blog post.
- PDF files that you open in Chrome.
- Only the text you select on a page.
- Text you’ve typed into a box on a page, such as a message you’re writing.
- Social media feeds. As new posts load, TTSReader goes on reading them.
What else your account includes
The account you just made also works across all of TTSReader.com, including thousands of classic books read by real people. If you buy a Premium plan, you only need to buy it once.
Common questions
Why do I have to click the button on every website?
This is how TTSReader protects your privacy. It only has access to a website after you click its button on that tab.
Why does TTSReader ask me to sign in?
You need to sign in to play anything, even with the free device voices. You can use a Google or Apple account.
Do I have to turn the pages myself?
No. TTSReader turns each page when it finishes reading it. If you press Play on a page with no text, such as a cover or a picture, TTSReader asks you to turn the page and press Play again.
Does this work on a phone, in the Kindle app or on a Kindle device?
No. The extension runs in a browser on a computer, and it reads books that are open at read.amazon.com.
Does it work in Microsoft Edge?
Yes. Install it from the same Chrome Web Store page. Edge first asks you to allow extensions from other stores.
Which languages can it read in Kindle books?
TTSReader reads Kindle books in English today, and we’re working on more languages. On other websites, it reads many more languages.
Does TTSReader keep the text of my book?
No. TTSReader doesn’t store your text on its servers or use it to train AI. It sends only the next section to the voice service, to make the audio, and the audio goes straight to your computer.